Mercer Frey

Mercer was upon him and Yuri couldn't TP out of there, but that didn't make a difference to him.

'Accelerate' Yuri cast the nifty alteration spell on himself and formed an explosion formation trap with his foot before moving out of its range quickly.

Mercer missed and stared wide-eyed at the glowing orange formation below him, but was too late to switch to Teleportation and landed directly on Yuri's trap. With a boom, stone dust was kicked up and Mercer's condition was concealed. A swing of the blue and green blade cut through the cloud and Mercer revealed himself to be completely unscathed-

That was before a familiar blade dug itself into the shoulder of Mercer. Karliah had finally proven herself capable by moving past the beheaded centurion and waiting for an opportunity.

An accelerated Yuri grinned underneath his cowl and lunged for a kick that landed on Mercer's chest. Mid-flight, the bastard managed to TP to higher ground back on the shoulder of the statue, panting and clutching his wound.

"Haha, who says I'm the only backstabber around here" Mercer commented. "And where the hell did you come from, Mage?" Mercer would have had a much easier time without the far-too-capable mage butting in from nowhere.

"The blade will return to its makers, and you will return to the earth" Yuri growled back.

"You must be the Arch Mage's new 'Black Hand of Winterhold', but this blade will end you before it leaves my grip," Mercer revealed.

"Now you will most certainly be buried here," Finished Yuri. Karliah didn't even seem to respond.

Yuri threw an especially thick thunderbolt directly at Mercer's blocking blade while Karliah dipped behind him with a 'Shadow Bound' and swung her Deadric weapon to take advantage. Mercer didn't even look to block her overhead stroke. ESP makes things too easy, Yuri would have to take away his advantage or this will be a battle of attrition.

He floated with Telekinesis and charged a spell that started shaking and resonating with the walls while Karliah and Mercer danced at the edges of each other's blades. Mercer finally realized how dangerous that could be and attempted to TP, only to find himself also suppressed. Karliah had TP'd out of the way and Yuri concentrated a miniature 'Chibaku Tensei' to crush Mercer into a paste. Mercer couldn't TP because he was an amateur and gravity is a force that works directly on spacetime, if Einstein is to be believed.

Yuri's spell, while inspired, was a brute force at best. He wasn't a master at gravity magic yet and hadn't made a spell to constrict using it. This was a simple attempt to overpower and crush Mercer.

Mercer grit his teeth and used his ESP to resist the pressure to the best of his ability, but knew he was losing what appeared to be a battle of mana and durability. He had only one option. Flee.

A living tattoo that depicted chains and runic text similar to Sanskrit snaked from his forearm to his hand and formed a circle in his open palm. From it, a key appeared and he struggled to hold it out beside him while being caught in a vice.

He finally held his arms perpendicular and turned the key to the right, causing a door to appear from nowhere! It pulled him out of Yuri's spell by force and left him without a target.

"BULLSHIT!" Yuri deeply screamed at the door with as much venom as he could muster. His heart was aching and his arms, both of them, were screaming like the muscles were tearing. He didn't want to believe the bastard could escape just like that. To his surprise, the door didn't close.

Yuri quickly TP'd to the door and found Mercer limping away, gaining ground slowly. It looks like he didn't escape the spell completely. He didn't recognize the dark and craggy area he traveled to yet, but it didn't matter. He grinned maliciously like a predator, before attempting to step through the door.

'Thump' The open door wasn't open at all. It sounded and felt like Yuri had walked headfirst into a 3-inch pane of glass. Anger nearly consumed him, but he calmed himself and touched the barrier gently to try to bypass it. Karliah had jumped right next to him and rammed her fist into the barrier. Mercer flashed a victorious and shit-eating grin.

"Can you reach him?" Karliah's voice was nearly pleading.

"I'm trying. Be silent" Yuri replied.

Yuri used his ESP to try to feel past the barrier, to no avail. He could see the area Mercer had landed but it was far past the range Yuri could feel, like Mercer had prepared to retreat to this place in advance.

'Wait, this isn't a barrier' Yuri had an epiphany. A conditional wormhole, granted only to users of the key. This was a portal with a built-in condition. Yuri didn't need to break it.

He felt inside the seams of the spell to find where the portal was leading to, and felt a connection to the other receiving end. He couldn't use it, he couldn't break past it, he couldn't hijack it. But he felt it.

A spatial connection leading to a place over 2 miles beneath him lit up past the edge of his ESP like a green beacon through the fog of the American dream.

{A/N: poorly worded Great Gatsby reference, anyone?}

Yuri reached out with his right hand to continue investigating the machinations of Mercer's door, while with his left he quickly attempted to create his own portal. Mercer and Karliah frowned in equal amounts of confusion.

He flashed a grin and said "Thanks for the Record".

[Minor Spatial Spell Learned - 300 RP]

Yuri had no time to notice the higher spell grading the Record gave it. An elliptical tear of space with blue edges opened on the exact backside of the door Mercer created, and with horror, Mercer was forced to watch Yuri leave his vision from the door only to appear right beside the same door with eyes that spoke their own words of schadenfreude and mockery.

Karliah took a stance and swung her blade to Yuri's right side. Yuri looked around and realized where he was and why his ears were still tight from the pressure. A cavernous space of black and jagged rocky hills and walls, cobblestone road bordered by odd and luminescent plant life, towers of Dwemer design reaching from floor to cave ceiling in the distances, and a walled-off area with a visible and spherical chandelier caged in iron and gleaming with soft and golden light.

"This is Blackreach," He said.

"So you're familiar? Good, because even if you're here, there is no hope left for YOU!" Mercer screamed in vehemence and scorn, followed by a roar that shook the cavernous space.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAR" Ear piercing and earth-shaking, the roar of a fast-approaching black dragon sent Yuri into a bout of mental gymnastics that was joined by the jitter of his nervous system and instincts. The only Dragon that Alduin never resurrected, because Vulthuryol had been here hiding since before the Dragon War ended.

Vulthuryol quickly landed behind Mercer and his head curved over him to look at the intruders with a glare.

"HAHAHAHAHA" Mercer laughed madly as if victory was already his.

Yuri reeled back his arm and repulsed with all his might before that fucking dragon could breathe in his face. Mercer was flung into the chest of the dragon and the dragon was also forced back a few feet, though his weight meant it wasn't much. The dragon raised his head once again, only to find that his prey had already vanished.

Karliah had used her stealth to find a vantage point and provide cover fire once again but was still baffled by the event she hadn't seen coming. Yuri, almost as much.

'A key user can tame dragons now? No, there are no ways to do so other than shouts. Vulthuryol was probably called a coward by Akatosh himself along with a number of dragons like Alduin. He most likely cut a deal with Mercer just like the dragon must've done to live with the Dwemer before their disappearance.' Yuri, for his own sake, tried to reason how this was possible while trying to think of a way to kill his first dragon and teleporting around. Not much is stated about the dragon who lived below the surface, but many fans came up with their own reasonable conclusions that Yuri once stuck to.

Yuri had already activated Shroud of the Hunter to evade the senses of the dragon man pairing. It worked like a charm, both Karliah and Yuri had the option to flee right now but neither was willing to take it. Stupidity? Glory? Revenge? Perhaps for Karliah. Yuri wanted the bones, certainly. Imagine the enchanting and the weaponry. But he didn't want to fail his mission either and didn't believe a mage of his caliber could die without being able to retreat. He lived his life avoiding enough risks for once.

It appears Karliah did not have the option to flee, at the moment. Mercer had found her quickly and fired an icicle at a seemingly blank spot, revealing her in a puff of smoke when she sliced the projectile in half.

Vulthuryol also motioned his head toward Karliah while preparing to breathe fire. Yuri took the opportunity his bait *cough* partner gave him and floated to a specific angle near its head. The instant the dragon released, Yuri repulsed, and the dragon was momentarily forced to crane its head to its lower-left corner and blast Mercer point blank with the stream of fire.

Mercer only tanked it for a moment, but screamed and smoked like bloody hell before he had the chance to TP away from it. The dragon stopped breathing quickly, but it was still dragon fire for god's sake.

An arrow quickly made its way through the eye of the dragon while its head was turned, and it screamed before turning its attention back to the woman. It still couldn't sense the man who redirected him.

Yuri TP'd right in front of Mercer and took the opportunity to ram his steel-clad and red-hot fist in his filthy gut. Mercer made it off light, merely getting launched almost ten feet before falling on his ass with a burn mark.

"That key is all you're worth, bandit" Yuri spat. He didn't believe the man would survive a second without it. Yuri trained his ESP on the battle 30 feet away while strutting toward his prey. Karliah was playing chicken with a dragon who could barely fly but couldn't lodge her arrows past its scales. She made sure it couldn't escape to the best of her ability, but the stalemate wouldn't last long. He needed to end this quickly. He could feel it. Mercer hardly had any mana left. He put up a great fight, but might still have tricks up his sleeve.

"All I've ever been worth is what I've taken" Mercer weakly replied through bloody teeth and hateful glare. He picked himself up with his limp and pulled out Chillrend from thin air for a reprise. Yuri laughed.

"Now why would I do that" Fireballs floated around him like a school of fish, before charging towards the bait.

Numerous sounds of air being pushed aside rapidly in ensuing and contained explosions resounded in the massive cave as fireball after fireball attempted to destroy the waning shield Mercer was putting up and drown him in a blaze. Mercer only withstood it for a second before opting to suffer a few blows and teleport behind Yuri.

Once again, Mercer came out smoking. Yuri had noticed when he TP'd and already cast accelerate. He ducked then his steel-clad hands swung behind him and crashed against Mercer's hip. As Mercer leaned in the direction of Yuri's strike he tried bringing Chillrend back to swipe at Yuri's neck. Yuri turned around and bowed even lower before bringing his foot around and swiping Mercer off his feet.

Yuri got up quickly and dropkicked Mercer in the wrist to pin down the hand that held Chillrend. Mercer attempted to TP, but Yuri was already grasping him with gravity suppression before he could try it.

"KACK" Mercer choked, and quickly put up his shield while blood streamed from his lips. He looked at the foot that pinned him and struck the calf that was attached.

Once. Twice. With as much force as he could muster in his final throes, Mercer struck at a wall that wouldn't move.

Pat. Pat... Pat. His punches grew weaker and slower. Cracks started to form on the shield he depended on. Mercer looked up. Glowing red eyes glared at him like he was an ant. He knew that gaze. He hated that gaze. A bastard son of a noble father, he was unloved and yet couldn't complain.

When his ambition as a young thief put him at odds with the citizens of Riften, he grew familiar with that gaze.

When distrust for him began to form with his fellow members of the Nightingales, he had already known that gaze when Karliah used it.

He hated it. Resentment. Disdain. Distrust. Suspicion. Why should thieves be so soft-hearted? Wasn't he just doing what they were doing? Wasn't he just better than them at their own game? There is no trust among thieves, why sit on their high fucking horses as if they weren't playing the same game.

The cracks grew further and spread right in front of his face. The man who looked at him like a distasteful rat towered above him. How he wanted to spit in his face. How he had wanted to rise above people like him.

He laughed as the cracks spread, and kept laughing. Weakly, hoarsely, he laughed through lungs that wanted to give out before a single tear dragged down the side of his face.

The dragon had made its way past Karliah and was clumsily walking toward him while roaring his grievances. Mercer knew it wouldn't make it.

"Life is unfair"

Like a mirror, his lifeline shattered, and a force like a sky falling hit every inch of him. His ribcage broke into pieces and punctured his internal organs, his arms and legs were flattened, and his head crashed against the ground before it all went black.

[Record of Mercer Frey Obtained: 20 RP]

'This fucker wasn't worth shit!'

Yuri backpedaled and fell on his ass. He wanted to cast restoration magic, but he couldn't. If this is what a cooldown felt like, he never wanted to feel it again.

His arms were red from the stress and his glowing blue veins were nearly visible through his garments. His heart was beating at a million miles an hour and his chest ached. His eternal heart was replacing his blood with liquid mana slowly but surely. He would heal easily but damn that hurt. The strain felt like he was benching far above his weight class for far too long.

'I'm still too weak'

He used Shroud of the Hunter forcefully to confuse the approaching dragon for long enough to recover before TP'ing against his body's wishes and out of the way of the fire breathe it had just launched at the last second. Karliah took the hint and did the same. The idiot cocked his head and looked from side to side in search of him, then glanced at the body of Mercer before releasing an exasperated sigh through its massive nostrils.

"Ful Pogaas Fah Aan Laas Do Stin" The dragon spoke gutturally yet with a tone of disappointment.

'Whatever that meant, I'm sure it was an indication of a deal gone south'

{Used an actual dragon speech translator I found. "So much for a life of freedom," it said.}

Yuri wasn't casting restoration magic outwardly, that would draw attention to his bright ass. He attempted to make his semi-transformed blood take the property of regeneration and transition to the rest of his arms and chest. The aching slowly stopped, and his arms gained their normal color after 20 seconds but still hurt like hell. Some light spell work could be managed for now. The dragon had already given up and was walking back to the Dwemer library under his favorite chandelier to possibly snack on a blind elf.

Minutes later, the dragon was out of sight and Yuri dropped his shroud. He was still sore, and cast greater healing on himself in relaxed intervals. Karliah made her way over to him and dropped her stealth mode as well.

"Sorry for taking your kill," Yuri started. He wasn't here for revenge, but Karliah had every right to deal the finishing blow. Sadly, the detail slipped his mind till the end. Testament to how tricky Mercer was, and how badly Yuri wanted him to be done with.

"You made him suffer," Karliah responded. "That's all that matters. I couldn't have beaten him without you anyway."

Yuri noticed burn marks on her arms and dings on her sword. Her bow hand looked worn, fingertips bloody.

"I wouldn't have had an easy time with him either if you weren't distracting that dragon," Yuri reciprocated.

"I still can't believe I had to fight a dragon just to take care of a bandit," Karliah had already sat down beside him to rest and contemplate. The tension was gone from the duo, just like that. "Why do you think it fled anyway?"

"There are scholars who have written of a dragon who hid away from the war and made deals with the Dwemer, earning a curse of lethargy from Akatosh himself. I think we found our culprit," Yuri surmised.

Karliah used her hand to leverage her knee and got up from the rocky ground, then slowly made her way to Mercer's flat corpse and took the key from what used to be shaped like a hand, grasping it tightly. It seemed the Skeleton Key had already extricated itself from Mercer. She also walked over to the other side of the bloody floor mural and knelt down to grab Chillrend. Yuri lifted an eyebrow but knew she had nowhere to run and wouldn't likely try to take it anyway.

Karliah eventually made her way over to him and held the sword properly to let him take it, the blade facing herself and the hilt facing him. A sign of trust, perhaps.

Yuri gingerly took it from her, and Karliah returned to her 'seat'. Yuri, remembering her wounds, started casting Grand Healing. An aura of golden light wrapped around them individually, and circled their appendages in search of wounds to heal. Karliah's superficial cuts and burns were quickly dealt with, and she told him her gratitude.

After a while, Yuri broke the silence. "You should get back to Brynjolf, who knows how long he can keep to himself safely. I have unfinished business with the guild, so I'll meet you and Bryn back there if you stick around."

"And where will you be? More unfinished business?" Karliah implied.

Yuri's gaze drifted to the dragon's path of retreat. "You could say that."

Karliah gave a wry grin and scoffed. "Happy Hunting, I'm no match for that thing. By the way, where-"

Yuri opened a portal right on the door that led to where Brynjolf should have been blocked off by a wall of ice before she could finish her sentence. Sure enough, Brynjolf no longer had a door to lean on and fell backward into the dirt with an "Ooof"

He quickly got up in a panic, dagger in hand, only to find his familiar companions in an unfamiliar place. He turned around and looked at the ice wall in a small elliptical circle with confusion. Karliah pushed him back through it before he could ask any questions and gave Yuri a salute before walking into it herself. Yuri closed the portal promptly.

20 minutes later, Yuri was up and ready to slay a dragon. He looked toward the chandelier.

"Now where were we?"